1. Field
The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to handheld electronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronic device on which is implemented a graphical user interface (GUI) which manages the displaying and manipulation of selectable objects that are in the exemplary form of icons.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones, and the like. Many handheld electronic devices also feature a wireless communication capability, although many such handheld electronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional without communication with other devices.
As technology has advanced, handheld electronic devices have become more sophisticated and have provided greater numbers of features, and such features have been implemented on devices that have grown progressively smaller. As a result, designers of handheld electronic devices have often been challenged with regard to the best way in which to enable the selection of features that may be employed by a user. Some systems employ a graphical user interface (GUI) which graphically depicts on a display certain objects that are each representative of a feature or routine and, if selected by a user, initiate the operation of such feature or routine. For instance, an exemplary GUI might visually depict on a display a plurality of icons that can be selected by a user to initiate a feature or routine that is represented by the selected icon. Another exemplary GUI displays menus and sub-menus, all of which are in a tree-like structure, with the various menu items being selectable to initiate a feature or routine that is represented by the selected menu item.
Such systems have not, however, been without limitation. As is generally understood in the relevant art, users of handheld electronic devices typically can direct at most only a limited amount of attention to the operation of a handheld electronic device, typically because the user is involved in other activities, hence the portable nature of handheld electronic devices. It thus would be desirable to provide an improved handheld electronic device on which can be implemented an improved method of presenting to a user the various selectable features that are available on the handheld electronic device.
Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.